Secret Society: Crossing Into The Fire
by iLuke
Summary: There were nine ninja villages. No, ten. The outcast village was called Tama by outsiders, but by those inside of the walls it was Soul Society. Now, Hitsugaya and his chosen team are on a mission: Pose as a genin team entering the Chunin Exam in Konoha.
1. Prologue to Disaster

**I bet a lot of you are gonna kill me for posting this new story instead of "Die Once, Live Again? What the Hell?"**

**Srry, I have writers block on that one. Lets go with this for now...lol...**

--

In the world, there were the countries that all had their famous ninja villages. However, there was another "ninja" village, but it was casted from the circle. No one that was not a ninja ventured near it, the chakra pressure was almost crushing. And even then, shinobi and kunoichi alike did not set foot anywhere inside the village. This village, which invoked the very principle of fear into all people, was called "Tamagakure no Sato" Village Hidden in the Souls. No one on the outside of the walls knew why.

On the outside of the walled village was a town, quite more civilized than within, named Karakura Town - it was the village where travelers stopped by, and it was protected by Tama. The people here remained oblivious to anything inside the society, but in all honesty they didn't even care, either. On occasion, Shinigami material - shinigami being the term used to call a soldier in the village military - would pop up in the humble little town, and a Shinigami would appear to take them into the military.

Within the walls, the town looked larger than two of the Great Ninja Villages put together. There was an inner wall, and an outer wall.

The outer walls were dubbed Rukongai, where villagers lived humbly or in poverty - the politics did not intervene within them. Everyone acted on their own terms, and rarely did they see any of the Shinigami. However, they would, on occasion, create riots, due to being angered that Shinigami have the better life.

On this side of the divide, one would normally find stealing, domestic violence, but in secluded parts only. These parts are where those who looked for battle and thirsted for battle traveled, if only to get a taste of the fever of violence. In most other parts the community was whole, for the children played, the adults chattered, and a sense of unity held Rukongai together.

In the inner wall lived those who were part of the village military, the Gotei 13, and the entire society within those walls was dubbed Seireitei. Everyone had two kinds of clothing in the Gotei 13, and the coloring was mandatory.

The formal robes, required for ceremonial practices, meetings, funerals, weddings, or any other thing related, were a simple shihakusho. The captains wore a haori, the only thing that they could customize about it being the sleeves or accessories they donned in addition to it. What could be worn in addition to these robes were limited. The vice-captains too had a mild choice of wearing color customizable articles in addition to the black robes.

However, the second set of robes were customizable to the extent that they only had to be black, and the captains still had to had some translated version of a haori.

At all times, every shinobi in Seireitei had to have their hitai-ate, which simply had a the signature diamond symbol of the Gotei 13.

The reason why the other Ninja villages avoided contact with this misfit ninja village was for the reason of the rumors that many infants born in the village were born with a demon, and if they had and could control that demon, they were gifted a hunk of metal that would warp into a sword if their power was deemed worthy that would allow them to channel that power and put into the military.

Little did the other villages know that their beliefs on this society were one-hundred percent true, and that soon they would be active as a Great Shinobi Village...

"Hitsugaya-taichou." There was a boy, appearing no older than 10, looked to the village leader, and elder, the Reikage, and also the leader of the village military, the Sotaichou, Yamamoto Genryuusai. This boy was unique in his appearance, for he had white hair remained pure as the snow no matter what happened to it, and his teal eyes stayed as cold as ice regardless of the situation.

Currently, he donned his second set of robes, his being knee-length shorts with thigh-high ninja sandals, black, and an equally tank-shirt with a high collar that covered his neck and a small portion of his chin, and a white open vest with the Insignia of 10 on the back over it.

"Yes, Sotaichou?"

"As a military captain I give this mission to no other than you alone to be its captain." He stiffened at the formal greeting, signaling that the mission would by no means be easy, or short.

"Don your informal robes in this situation; you must be suited for warm weather and rough terrain. You will be patrolling the borders around Konoha, for sources have spoken that Aizen is plotting something concerning the area. You will be choosing two other high-ranking officials, taichou or fukutaichou I care not, and will be posing as a "genin team" in order to infiltrate Konoha for the Chuunin Exams. Keep your eyes open, your mission is to observe. And the Bureau of Technology managed to acquire these passes allowing you entry into the village for these exams. Also, we agreed to send one of our medics to supervise the games, should anything happen, and so by default Yamada Hanatarou will be traveling with you."

"Yes, sotaichou." He said. Then, he stood. "Sotaichou, should we also choose someone to fill the pose of "jounin"?"

"Your vice captain will be filling that role." He twitched inwardly.

"...Yes...Sotaichou." With that, he turned. "Shall I take my leave?"

"Be off with you. But first, you must give Matsumoto-fukutaichou this vest - otherwise it will seem suspicious." Hitsugaya nodded, and shunpo'ed from the sight to his division. Shunpo was a great creation of the Tama researching facility, which was under the control of the Twelfth Division of the Gotei 13. The advances in chakra manipulation within the Gotei 13 were also highly rumored and feared outside of their walls.

In fact, the truth was their advances were so great that they even managed to travel into advances and manipulation of death energy, reiryoku. And so, a standard "Shinigami", the title given for a soldier in the Gotei 13, regardless of rank, would have a massive knowledge of elemental and shape manipulating ninjutsu while also knowing many "Kido", jutsu created using incantations and molding reiryoku. Currently he now stood in front of his office, his eye involuntarily twitching at the sound of loud snoring coming from within, and realized with a steadily boiling anger that his fukutaichou had fallen asleep yet again, most likely glaring down at the evil beast she considered to be the mountain of paperwork.

"Matsumoto!" Said woman jumped, squealing slightly as she quickly put her hands in front of her breasts before staring wildly at Hitsugaya. She had strawberry blond hair and baby-blue eyes, and wore her informal robes - a black mini-skirt with white-short shorts underneath, ninja boots that reached mid-thigh, mesh stockings, a long-sleeved mesh shirt under a short tank top that had a low neckline and did not cover her stomach.

"Taichou! You startled me! They almost spilled out!" He groaned at the implication and rubbed his eye-ridge.

"Good thing they didn't...And now, you're going on a mission with me, Kuchiki-fukutaichou and Kurosaki-taichou."

"Why do I have to? Haineko is still not cooperating with me!" She whined. He growled, his eyes flashing red for a moment as her eyes flashed yellow in return - however, they both returned to their normal state soon enough.

"I'll have Hyorinmaru kick her ass then, just get up and let's go! We have to be at Konoha ASAP!" Now her face brightened.

"We get to see the outside world now?" He nodded. "YAY!! We never get missions like this! All we get are the bloody recon missions..."

"However, you need to wear this or people will get suspicious." He handed her the green short vest - it was formatted especially for her, apparently - and she slipped it on with ease. With that, the two shunpo'ed away and found the others - There was Kurosaki Ichigo, the captain replacing their enemy, Aizen, in the Fifth Division, a resident of Karakura born with the moon demon Zangetsu and cursed with but surviving the "Hollow Illness", with the Inner Hollow Hichigo. He had black Capri styled-pants, black ninja-sandals, a black T-shirt with a white zipped vest (it resembles Shippuuden Gaara's vest) with the insignia 5 on it.

Then, there was Rukia Kuchiki, who replaced one Momo Hinamori due to her mental instability as Vice Captain of the Fifth Division, part of one of the noble families, and born with the snow demon Sode No Shirayuki. She wore a white fabric wrapped around her hips, her shoulder having the vice-captain badge for 5 wrapped around it, a black kimono-like shirt that had long sleeves that only barely showed her finger-tips, black shorts underneath that only reached mid-thigh and shinobi heels.

They soon found that Hanatarou was already waiting for them. The young medic was completely ready, carrying his medical supplies and a rather well-sized bag at his side. He had his hitai-ate wrapped around his head, tilted to face the right a little more and had a shirt with an average collar-length, and sleeve length was to his elbows. He had bandaged his lower arms but wore black fingerless gloves over his bandages. He also had similar shorts to Hitsugaya, but average short ninja sandals.

And now having the entire group, they instantly vanished; there was no need to use the gates, and so there were none visible to the human eye - they only opened when a shinigami or a gate-guard opened them. But for now, their travels would be swift and easy enough, shunpo was a grace given from God to lighten the burdens of traveling for them.

At least, it would be swift and easy until they arrived in Konoha. That is when the real trouble would begin, from survival, to alliances, to petty missions, to dealing with traitors, enemies and the concept of war.

Hitsugaya promptly ignored the reminiscent feeling of ominous doom in his stomach and carried on.


	2. Meeting The Competition

Upon reaching the gates of the foreign village, the two guards moved towards them suspiciously.

"State your business!" One of them called.

Hitsugaya coolly removed the passes and their newly forged passports to show the guards. "We're the first of our village to be participating for the Chuunin Exams..."

"And I am the medic sent by the same village." Hanatarou added, smiling softly.

"T....THAT village...very well, you can pass." The five entered, and then looked around in surprise at the lively and peaceful scenery surrounding them. People then turned to see them, and their eyes widened seeing their hitai-ates: On Hitsugaya's waist, Matsumoto's bosom, Rukia's neck, and Ichigo's bicep, and Hanatarou's head.

"Mission report says go to the Hokage." Matsumoto said, listening to the message on the Hell Butterfly - a special talent that the Gotei 13 developed using their advances into Reiryoku - before they readied their shunpo. However, Hitsugaya held them back.

"Wait! We can't reveal any of our Villages secrets - we have to walk, we can't use shunpo." They all groaned sadly - shunpo was the fastest form of transportation, and to be told that they could not use it brought them down. And with that they walked through the streets, their footsteps actually non-existent.

As they neared the large tower - the Hokage's building - they noted how the amount of people thinned dramatically. However, the four then bumped into resident ninja and foreign ninja in the following pose;

There was one, a Suna ninja, unknown to them being Gaara, walking their way from the scene with red hair, insomnia rimmed eyes and a gourd, wearing full black. He had a tattoo on his forehead, and seemed unusually pale for one from the desert, and he stared forward passively; his hitai-ate was tied at his gourd, and had the symbol for Suna.

The other was a girl, Temari, and had sandy blond hair tied into four messy buns, and wore a light purple dress and had her hitai-ate wrapped around her throat with a large fan on her back.

Then, finally, Kankurou, the last one had full black, again, but a circle on the front of the shirt with a horizontal divide between the colors red and yellow in the symbol. He had a wrapped figure on his back and had warrior paint on, and a cowl with two pointed areas that looked like cat ears - that also held his hitai-ate.

Then, the Konoha ninja. There was one, in a blue shirt with white shorts and several straps; Sasuke, they were about to find out. He sat on the tree-branch farthest from them as his black hair shaded his eyes.

Then there was one wearing an orange and blue jump-suit, Naruto, who was glaring at the Suna ninja, with blue eyes and yellow hair with three whisker-like marks on each of his cheeks.

The third was Sakura, a green eyed, pink haired girl with a red dress and black shorts underneath.

"Hey...who are _you,_ shorty?" Kankurou asked, looking down just a little at Hitsugaya, for he was a little shorter than him. Hitsugaya glared at him, stoically.

"Who I am is not a concern to such a _weakling_like you." Kankurou snarled, before Gaara held his hand up in front of Kankurou, and quickly the boy retreated. Gaara gazed at them slowly.

"You're not normal ninja." He said simply. He could feel a fraction of the crushing energy stored in their bodies.

"You're right." Ichigo replied, gazing back down with an equal intensity. He was only a little shorter than Kakashi's height.

"What's up with your hitai-ates? I don't recognize them." Sasuke said, staring at them curiously from his position with his dark-gray eyes.

"These hitai-ate are unrecognizable to you because they belong to a ninja village shunned by the rest of the villages for our power." Matsumoto said simply - she was the tallest, as tall as Kakashi. "We are Shinobi and kunoichi from Tamagakure."

"T-that village...!!" Temari choked with eyes wide as she attempted to absorb the stunning information. Ichigo snorted, before laughing hysterically.

"Wow! So _now_ your afraid of us, huh?" But that was before Ichigo found himself eye-level with Hitsugaya, who had yanked him down.

"_Shut__**up,**__ Kurosaki._" His voice sounded deadly and those who didn't know him flinched from the killing intent flowing from the small body.

"Eh, I don't think I want to, Toshiro." Hitsugaya's eyes flashed red again, startling the other ninja, while Ichigo smirked, his eyes flashing black with white irises in return, before both changed quickly back.

"But anyways, we're heading off to check in with the Hokage, our mission report calls for it." Hanatarou smiled and then waved for his friends, and they discovered he was already behind Sakura and Naruto. The two jumped, startled.

"How-how did you get back there?"

"Tama-nin are trained to be able to use constant energy in our feet as to not make a single sound. I walked over here but you didn't hear or notice me." Hanatarou smiled again, and yet the shinobi found it frightening. "Lets go."

"Hai, hai, we're going..." Ichigo complained, before finding his head smacked by Rukia, who now sat on his shoulders.

"Baka! Instead of standing there, go!" Ichigo growled before he walked past them, and followed the short medic - as tall as Rukia, who were both as tall as Sasuke. Hitsugaya also went right past them, and lastly Matsumoto. And with that, they got their first impression of Tama-nin.

"Those people are freaks." Naruto mumbled, staring at them oddly.

And with the three sand siblings, Gaara said one sentence that made their blood go cold.

"Mother is afraid of them..."

--

Now, the group stood in front of Sarutobi, the Hokage. To the side stood Kakashi, Iruka, Gai, Asuma and Kurenai.

"We have arrived...and I'm sure the Reikage, or sotaichou of the Gotei 13, has sent you our mission specs."

"Gotei 13?" Kakashi asked out of term.

"It is the shinobi military of our Society." Hanatarou answered automatically. "We are formatted differently than you."

"And so your mission here is posing as a genin team because of suspicions of a powerful energy plotting around here?" Sarutobi said, reading the letter once more.

"We had a traitor in our midst. He has a demon with the power to cast unbreakable genjutsu on anyone that sees the flicker of its eyes in his own." They stared at him with his mouth agape.

"A _demon?_ So the rumors-" Eyebrow raises.

"Rumors?"

"That the shinobi of Tamagakure are all born with demons in them." Gai answered.

"How did that rumor get out?" Hitsugaya snarled, eyes narrowed.

"I bet it must have been one of Aizen's cronies." Rukia said simply. "Arrancars have little regards for privacy..."

"But yes...this is true..." However, as Hitsugaya began he choked before gripping his throat, trying to breath.

"Kuso!! Hanatarou, you'll have to explain, the orders to allow our secrets to be revealed have not been given, and so this cannot be spoken by us captains and vice-captains...the seals choking him." Hitsugaya continued to choke before the seal stopped flashing, and Hitsugaya sprawled against the floor, exhausted. There were disturbed looks on the faces of the jonin.

"Sadly, we have not come up with a way to cover this...Every shinobi is born with a demon due to our advances in life and death energy, reiryoku and chakra. The reiryoku causes a form of our soul to rip apart and become a separate entity that makes a deal with the other portion of our soul, so to speak. We call these demons "zanpakutos", because they are the main source of our greatest powers and they were and are an inseparable part of us. Sometimes this fragment reaches a point where its power is so great it starts separating the power into tails, and as a result it eventually reaches the point where itis basically a pseudo-bijuu." Hanatarou explained.

"Yes." Hitsugaya said. "This has happened with my own demon. The twenty-tailed dragon Hyorinmaru, currently I have the highest known amount of tails, but I doubt that its truly the highest. There have been rumored that the Sotaichou's demon has a thousand tails." Everyone choked on their breath when hearing this information, but Hitsugaya began to choke at the last part, the seal constricting his throat again. He collapsed on the floor, clawing at his throat more so as Matsumoto helped him straight, before his breathing evened out once more.

"Amazing... Remind me to make a peace treaty with your village when this is over - it is misunderstood, not evil like it is believed." Sarutobi said simply. Hitsugaya nodded.

"In fact, we can send the message now if you wish." Matsumoto said, and then she summoned a hell butterfly.

"These special butterflies are a "shinigami's" main form of communication." They looked at Hanatarou oddly for the term. "In the Gotei 13, we call every soldier a "shinigami" because we heavily rely on reiryoku."

"Ah, that makes sense." She then focused for a few seconds before sending the butterfly off, and it flew away and disappeared.

"I told the sotaichou that Konohagakure has requested a peace treaty and an alliance. Though, with the average speed of a hell butterfly and the distance between Konoha and Tama, it will take a while before they get this message."

"The chuunin exams start in seven days." Sarutobi said, simple, and quietly. "You are exempt from preliminary battles, should there be any, to ensure that you don't reveal your powers - I don't trust the ninja from Oto, and if they knew of your abilities it could prove disastrous."

"Very well."

"Kakashi," The man looked up to Sarutobi. Show them to the guest mansion I have."

"Yes Hokage-sama." With that, the five followed the jounin to the supplied home. But before Hitsugaya left, Sarutobi called him back.

"Would you stay behind, Hitsugaya-san? I have a favor to ask of you." Hitsugaya, a questioning look on his face, nodded and remained behind.

"Don't worry, I'll be able to sense you guys. I won't get lost." He called after them. Cries of "affirmative!" were shot back from the group as they followed the jonin to their home. Eventually, they arrived at a large mansion with a symbol identical to the one on the Hokage tower. It was large, and rose high, and too was surrounded by tall trees. The yard was spacious, and with glee they realized they would be able to train without interruption. Now they entered and removed their shoes.

"Thank you." Rukia said simply, smiling gratefully. He felt at ease, the power emenating from her body at that moment was different from the others - powerful, but soothing, and kind. He grinned back.

"No problem. Feel free to explore the town. Ja!" And with that, he shunshined away.

"Shunshin no jutsu." Hanatarou reported, noting the looks of confusion on the faces of the other Tama-nin. "Its a flawed teleportation technique in the eyes of the twelfth and fourth division, and shunpo is 13.987254 seconds faster."

"Ah." They nodded at the exclamation and began preparations for their patrols and mission. But that was before a minor interruption in the form of Ichigo with a growling stomach.

"I'm hungry." Ichigo said aloud, and the others realized they too wished to eat something.

"The Hokage spoke to me about a small ramen shop somewhere in the city." They jumped with the arrival of Hitsugaya.

"Don't sneak up on us like that!" He simply scowled.

"You're supposed to be alert at all times. Now lets get going before the sun sets, baka!" They looked out to see that, indeed the sun was setting. They thus left the haven of the spacious home, entered the city, and found the humble little ramen shop Hitsugaya was told of. Hitsugaya stepped in, and looked around. There were two behind the counter and they smiled at him.

"Welcome to Ichiraku Ramen! You must be here for the chunin exams, am I right?" They nodded.

"You are correct in that assumption, sir…" Hitsugaya replied. "So, you sell ramen here, correct? I believe this is the ramen shop that the Hokage suggested to us..."

"Yes sir." Now Ichigo immediately entered.

"Cool! I love ramen!" Rukia sighed as she followed after them inside, Matsumoto finally coming in last.

"Two miso ramen, a beef ramen and a pork ramen please." Rukia asked politely, and they smiled.

"Coming right up!" With that, they started on their work, and then small talk popped up.

"So, what village do you come from?" Obviously they hadn't seen the hitai-ate on their persons.

"Tama." Ichigo commented simply. The female paused before looking at them.

"You're from _that_ village?" Now Rukia groaned.

"Not again…" She murmured bitterly.

"That seems to happen wherever we go." Matsumoto added, staring in boredom at the wall.

"Well, in my opinion it doesn't matter what village you come from as long as you come with no mal intent." The man commented. "By the way, the name's Teuchi."

"Ayame." She added, smiling kindly.

"Thank you for your hospitality, most people stares at us in a mixture of horror and morbid fascination like we're a bunch of lab animals or something. It gets rather annoying after a while…" Ichigo said. And finally the ramen was served, and all ate in a contented atmosphere.

--

**Fin. Review plz? C:**


	3. Arrancar, And The Exams Begin

There was a lot of tension as the days passed. The group from Tama mostly remained within the house, not wanting to garner any unwanted attention. Often, it was found that Rukia was practicing Kido in the back-yard, Hitsugaya and Ichigo were sparring in the dojo found in the basement, Hanatarou was busy studying healing scrolls from Konoha and Tama alike, and Matsumoto sat around drinking sake. Though, this was to the agitation of the white-haired taichou and he often yelled at her for her laziness. Not only did they do that, but they also studied a list with the names of all the competitors in the Chunin Exams, courtesy of the Hokage.

Four days before the exam, however, Hitsugaya noticed some activity. There was a foreboding energy lurking somewhere outside the haven of the ninja village. And at that precise moment when the heavy feeling rested in their chests a butterfly entered the room.

"We have a mission." Hitsugaya said, noting the butterfly. "Our butterfly to Soul Society still hasn't arrived, but currently the Bureau of Technology has noticed Arrancar reiatsu somewhere near the outskirts of Konoha." They listened intently as he spoke. "They currently want only Kurosaki to take care of it. There are not enough to need the entire team to send and according to them you won't even break a sweat." Ichigo nodded, and grabbed his giant cleaver-like sword that was laying to the side. "If things get bad, flare hollow reiatsu and Rukia will go."

"I don't need to be saved Toshiro! I'm capable of myself!" However, he grinned as he left, for his words awarded him with a large scream from Hitsugaya.

"**THATS HITSUGAYA-TAICHOU TO YOU, _KUROSAKI!!!!!!_"**

Now, he was outside the gates, due to his shunpo making him invisible to the eyes of the guards. He quickly moved into the forest, his senses at a high peak - he had been trained after becoming a captain in the military - as he searched for the enemy. He quietly counted the presences he felt in the massive clearing ahead.

"1...2...3...9...15." His lips pulled back in a snarl. "Fifteen arrancar...One espada." He entered the clearing and now stood facing off against several enemy ninja. They had hitai-ate with a crescent moon, which was the symbol for shinobi of Kuragari (Darkness), Las Noches being the fortress within the village created by the traitor Aizen in the Anaboko (Hollow) Country, a small island off the coast of the Lightning country, which was basically the separating country between Tama and Kuragari. Each of them also had white fragments on a specific location of their body, looking like the remnant of a mask, which is exactly what they were. One of them had a tattoo on his back, of the number 6. He had electric blue hair and blue eyes, his mask fragment being a jaw-bone that rested along the right-side of his face. He had a white short coat and white pants with black ninja sandals, with a feral grin on his face.

"Well, well, well. If it isn't Kurosaki." He said, a sadistic grin on his face. "I wasn't expecting you here."

"Yeah, well, the feeling is mutual, _Grimmjow._" Ichigo spat, grabbing for his blade as his eyes flashed black. "Zangetsu!" The cloth wrapped around the blade was repelled as the dark handle-less cleaver was revealed in its full glory, a tall and large weapon that now glowed with an electric blue energy that too enveloped the rest of his body.

Grimmjow laughed, his grin growing even wider as his eyes flashed dangerously.

"This is gonna be fun." With that, both parties charged. Ichigo took on each of the Arrancar-turned-hollow, and after activating one of Zangetsu's tails he made quick work of them. They hadn't been expecting him to release so much energy in the fight. Many of the surrounding trees were cleaved right in half, due to being victims of an astray Getsuga Tenshou on occasion. Then, there was only Grimmjow and Ichigo. The two glared each other down before Ichigo tossed the blade aside to a safer location and engaging in hand-to-hand combat with the Espada.

First, Grimmjow threw a powerful punch that Ichigo instantly caught. Shifting his feet he shunpo'ed to position behind the other and sweep-kicked him, but missed as Grimmjow used a Sonido, the Hollow equivalent of a Shunpo, to escape. Then, the shinigami once more shunpo'ed to engage Grimmjow as the two cast a punch at the same time, the fists colliding before they both Shunpo'ed and Sonido'ed away. Then, a kick came from above and Ichigo fell victim to it as his head lashed downwards, but then he grabbed the other's foot and swung him away. More punches and kicks were dealt before Ichigo released a second tail, his features becoming more wolf-like as he growled, his canines showing. Then, he pulled up his hand and held it there as a black energy began to charge.

A black blast now collided with the Cero that was shot by Grimmjow before they began a tirade of Shunpo and Sonido combined with more physical attacks that were invisible to the eye of even the Uchiha or the Hyuuga clans. Eventually, it all slowed down as the two stood, panting. Grimmjow growled.

"I'm being called back...but fear not, Kurosaki, I'll be back." Ichigo, who sported several claw-marks, some nasty bruised, a deep cut in his side, a black eye, and blood dribbling down his chin from a broken tooth only sneered.

"I look forward to kicking your _ass_." Grimmjow only sneered in return before disappearing in a black vortex called a Garganta.

Then, Ichigo returned to the mansion undetected. Hanatarou, seeing his condition, instantly rushed over and laid him on the couch, even if he was grudgingly allowing him to do so, and began to heal him.

"Situation report, Kurosaki." Hitsugaya demanded. He sighed.

"Fifteen Arrancar and an Espada. Grimmjow Jeagerjaques." He said. "Grimmjow got away. However I released one tail and destroyed the other fifteen rookies he had with him."

"Well done, Kurosaki." Hitsugaya said. "I've just sent the report to Yamamoto-sotaichou." Now, he turned to Hanatarou. "What's his condition?"

"The only bad wound is the cut in his side. Other than that, he'll be a-okay. It will not impair his ability to take the exam." He said simply.

"Good. And next time, Kurosaki?"

"Yeah?"

"Don't be an idiot and try and fight him hand-to-hand again."

--

Finally, the day of the beginning chuunin exams, and all the shinigami, minus Hanatarou and Matsumoto, were to participate. They were all taken to a building in which was where the first section of the exam was to be taken.

However, it was noticed that everyone was crowded around one door that was being blocked by two chunin. Two of the Konoha genin, Rock Lee and Tenten according to the sheets the Hokage had given them, were being continuously beat down as they tried to make it past. However, they noticed that the three continued walking past them.

"Hey, where are you three going?" Hitsugaya looked back at the two, but they froze seeing the dangerous, mature, controlled look of harsh authority in his eye.

"We're going up." He answered. "Your silly illusions don't fool our eyes. In fact, every one in my team has seen through it." The other two nodded. Sasuke then commented,

"You have a genjutsu up, please take it down. We want to go to the third floor. Our team has seen through it too." Sakura and Naruto nodded. "In fact, Sakura saw through it first on our team."

"What do you mean genjutsu?" Ichigo glared back and snorted.

"This is the second floor; did you all seriously fall for it? Man, excluding the group with the pinkie, the blond brat and the cockatoo guy, they're all dumber than I thought." All of the genin seemed insulted.

"Kurosaki..." Ichigo laughed and nodded.

"Yeah, I know. But jeez, I expected SOMETHING." With that, the odd group continued past them. Hinata and Neji both used Byakugan, and when they tried using it on those three they saw that they couldn't go through them, but then Hitsugaya turned and glared right into their eyes.

They were startled when seeing a flash of red, due to seeing a humongous twenty-tailed ice-dragon when his eyes flashed that snarled at them with a crushing amount of energy. It pierced their souls to the very core, and they felt as though their bodies were now known inside out by the demonic entity.

"By the way...we don't appreciate it when you try to take a look at our innards, Hyuuga. Refrain from using Byakugan on us - you won't see anything, anyways, and if you try to see any of our village secrets via our chakra-channels we'll personally gut you alive."

_Twenty tails...Does he know??_ Neji wondered, fear settled in his guts. Hinata looked to him, and he looked back, immediately knowing she saw it too.

"Who _are_ you guys?" Kiba hissed, with his eyes narrowed as he regarded them. "I've never seen you here before, and certainly you seem to be over-confident." Now Ichigo laughed again, giving them a crude look.

"I definitely know that _I'm_ not being over confident. Toshiro will definitely carry his threat out, though, if you try that again. The rules concerning the secrets of our village are brutal - we cannot speak of them unless ordered to, unless these limit seals constrict us to death." Ichigo pulled down his collar to reveal his collar bone, which then had a seal that flashed as a flower.

"Limit seals?" However, they no longer answered their questions as they walked ahead of them. They were the first to leave the area, and soon after Team 7 followed, and then Neji's team. But once the Tama-ninja all entered the examination room; they cast their eyes upon all of the "tough-looking competition".

The competition looked to see who was entering, and instantly everything froze when one guy cried out, "It's the Tama-nin representatives!" Hitsugaya stood in front, looking unimpressed, and Ichigo and Rukia stood to either side of him, also glaring into the crowd. Finally, the group decided to find them leaning against a wall opposite of the group of Iwa-nin. Quickly, the room of ninja cast their attention from the odd group.

The rookie nine eventually were all gathered and talking rather loudly. Ichigo quickly was getting annoyed, and then found himself distracted by talking avidly - but quietly - with Rukia. Hitsugaya leaned against the wall next to them, deciding to meditate and speak with Hyorinmaru. However, at that moment he perked when hearing about something called "information cards". Even more he found intriguing what the Uchiha had asked:

"Show me Gaara from Sunagakure, Rock Lee from Konoha, and the Tama-nin standing over in that corner behind you." Kabuto turned to see the three of them, and Hitsugaya opened one eye to glance at them in boredom.

"Very well..." He took out each of the cards and then read them each off.

"And finally, the Tamagakure-ninja..." He tapped one card, and Ichigo's picture popped up. "Kurosaki Ichigo...We have no information currently, aside from the fact that he is one of the more powerful in his village, his power equivalence is to that of something greater than ANBU, and he has done fifty-nine S-rank missions and three-hundred A-rank missions. He has a fire-affinity chakra and lightning-affinity chakra." They all gasped in shock as they cast a glance to Ichigo.

Meanwhile, Ichigo sneezed and then looked around. Rukia raised an eyebrow.

"Gesundheit." She said.

"Someone's talking about me." Then he found the rookies stare on him. He turned towards them questioningly, but simply shrugged and continued talking about Rukia.

"Kuchiki Rukia." The girl's image popped up. "She is also up in the powerful rank with Ichigo-san. Her chakra is water-affinity and wind-affinity. She has completed forty-two S-rank missions and seven-hundred A-rank missions." More gasps of shock. Finally, he took a last card.

"Hitsugaya Toshiro... a child prodigy, he has a higher power-level than both of the aforementioned ninja. Rumors say he's a jailor of a powerful pseudo-bijuu. I doubt the rumor though, strange people said it, from an unknown village. He has two types of chakra, wind-affinity and water-affinity, like Rukia-san. He has completed seven-hundred and thirty S-rank missions." With that, he put the cards away and sighed.

"However, their village system is so different that it is difficult to accurately guess how many missions they've actually done, or their actual intensity. Even with that said, you should be careful not to cross their path - they are a force to be reckoned with. The information on these cards is, as I said, possibly highly inaccurate, but you can tell that there is something off about them."

"They're talking about us." Ichigo growled, hearing Hitsugaya's information read out.

"Don't move, Kurosaki." Hitsugaya ordered. "That's an order from your superior." He glared at the boy, but otherwise did nothing. "Besides...their information on you two is off by about a hundred A-rank missions and seventy-five S-rank missions. And even with me it's extremely off. However, I am concerned about his speaking of that rumor..." Hitsugaya yelped as he reached for his head, his face scrunched in pain.

"Hitsugaya-sama!" Rukia said, hushed, as to not attract attention.

"No, no, its fine...Hyorinmaru is restless, summoning me to the inner world, and a migraine." They nodded and watched as his face relaxed again. But that was before Naruto shouted out and caught the attention of every ninja in the room. They all turned with malice in their features as they stared down the misfit group. While the other rookies were reprimanding him for his stupid move, the Oto-ninja moved.

And at this point Hitsugaya stood straight, and made several hand-movements. Rukia and Ichigo only stood straight, ready to restrain the cronies of the one Hitsugaya was going to block. Once they were in range, Hitsugaya moved two of his fingers twice. Ichigo shunpo'ed, and before Zaku–they had seen his name in the list of ninja–could attack Ichigo pulled him back and the he landed on the floor, Ichigo landing safely with two feet on either side of his body and hands pinning his arms behind his back.

While Dosu was attacking, Hitsugaya blocked with arm, and Dosu was unable to move when Hitsugaya was directly applying his reiatsu onto his body. He was absolutely frozen, eyes wide, as finally Rukia restrained Kin, and making sure she couldn't move.

"Oto-ninja, there will be no fighting in this room." Hitsugaya said boldly, eyes stoic as they stared at the ninja who now collapsed to the floor, and finally released the spiritual pressure. "The next time you have the nerve to attack rookies and a veteran who's not expecting your silly cheat-attacks I'll do more than just temporarily paralyze you."

Dosu stumbled onto his feet, and with wide eyes called his two team-mates and they retreated to their previous spot. Ichigo and Rukia both straightened up and simply grinned.

"That was way too easy. It was actually extremely pathetic." Ichigo grinned. "Is there _anyone_here who can put up a good fight?!" No one spoke. Gaara didn't move due to deeming it the improper time. "I thought not! You'll do well to treat us Tama-ninja with respect, ya got that?"

"Cut your brash behavior, Kurosaki. Honestly, you're as bad as that blond gaki." With that, Hitsugaya stretched his arms above his head. "Honestly...your constant snoring made it impossible to sleep."

"Hey!" And now the two ninja were in an unusual quarrel before Rukia smacked both of their heads. Her eye twitched as both of them looked away from each other, sour looks on their faces. "Honestly..." And now, they were no longer the center of attention as the proctor for the first exam entered.

--

**Cliffhanger-ish thing… It was originally so short so I put in a confrontation of "Ichigo vs. Grimmjow" and added some information about Aizen-teme. ;__;**


	4. INFORMATIONAL CHAPTER,Bleached Narupedia

FACTS ON THE BLEACH WORLD INTEGRATED INTO NARUTO!

--

**Sorry to disappoint, but this is for the good of us all (so that I don't have to explain later). The next chapter will be completed soon though, I promise! D:**

**BTW!! I changed a few things last chapter (in terms of Hueco Mundo translated into Naruto). The new information is displayed below. C:**

--

**HUECO MUNDO IN THE WORLD OF NARUTO**

Aizen's territory, the Arrancar's Territory, and thus the Hollow's Territory is **Kuragari no Sato** (Village hidden in the Darkness). Because "Las Noches" wouldn't be a logical name for a village, seeing as they are all Japanese names translating to a single word (Suna=Sand, Kumo=Cloud, etc.) I found it easier to make Las Noches the fortress within the village whilst basing the name of the "village" itself after the fact that it is always night, and therefore Dark, in Hueco Mundo. The Country that Kuragari is based in is **Anaboko no Kuni** - which means Hollow Country. The country's name is based off of "Hueco Mundo" itself, because Hueco Mundo in Spanish is "Hollow World". Hollow World, Hollow Country. Difference? Subtle.

**SOUL SOCIETY IN THE WORLD OF NARUTO**

The home to our Shinigami-turned-ninja heroes is** Tamagakure no Sato** (Village Hidden in the Souls), basically Soul Society, is named for obvious reasons and not-so-obvious plot-related reasons. Since all souls go to Soul Society in Bleach it would make sense to name the extremely large village that. I am not going to go into detail on this since I already did in the first chapter. However, the name of the country is **Nakitama no Kuni**, Spirit Country. Why did I name it that when Karakura is within the country's borders? Because it fits so painfully since Aizen is after it, after all, in the main Bleach story-line. A half a spirit mile of spirit-enriched land containing 100,000 Souls; It screams "Spirit", doesn't it?

**SHIKAI/BANKAI**

I will be mentioning **bankai** in the next chapter -- With my translation of Soul Society into Naruto comes the troubling task of keeping everything as fluid as possible, which means keeping all the terms that I can without getting rid of them. Bankai is the equivalent of harnessing the power of a Zanpakuto's tails in a watered-down "Final attack". Whilst Shikai is the opposite and only releases one tail at its full potential. It is forbidden for any shinigami to use a Jinchuuriki-style release farther than one tail. No questions asked.

The reason for this is that while Bankai does not use a Zanpakuto's full potential it allows the user to keep his/her sanity allow with the sanity of his/her zanpakuto as well. It should be noted that unless one has practiced years with the power of a Zanpakuto's tails full potential - a fraction of it until gradually increasing the amount once they could control that fraction - (which is different than a Bijuu) both the Zanpakuto and the Shinigami would loose their minds (think Naruto in Four Tailed Mode).

Though the Shinigami is ten times more powerful than the five Kage's put together in the complete form of their zanpakuto's animal familiar (though they may originally be a human manifestation all have an animal familiar unless they already are that familiar to begin with, in the case of Hyorinmaru and other zanpakuto) they are unable to control it and shortly after attaining that form they die. It is rare for a shinigami to live to control this form, contrast to the jinchuuriki that have a potential to in their life-time (e.g: Killer Bee).

So, in a way, a Shinigami's power is even more uncontrolled than the Jinchuuriki has a potential to, making a Jinchuuriki's potential more powerful than a shinigami (by fulling controlling the power of the jinchuuriki, one could defeat a Vasto Lorde, which can easily injure a captain and even put Yamamoto at a disadvantage.)

**SIMILARITIES BETWEEN A ZANPAKUTO AND A BIJUU**

However, due to the uncanny similarities between Zanpakuto and Bijuu (both are demons) they could be considered a pseudo-version of the other; meaning that Naruto could harness the Kyuubi as a "pseudo-zanpakuto" should he be given a Shinigami blade (this being the same with all the other jinchuuriki), while all shinigami are technically pseudo-jinchuuriki (but far more weaker than the jinchuuriki themselves due to the set-backs. Gaara using his power as a jinchuuriki could easily take out two seated officers and fifty unseated officers without breaking a sweat, and with his bijuu being one of the weakest ones with only a tail worth of power that is saying something.)

**ANABOKO: FURTHER INFORMATION**

The hollows would have had to take place before Aizen went there and built Kuragari with Las Noches within it. In this story you will see several instances of settlements in Anaboko no Kuni with beasts sporting masks with eyes of liquid gold that are able to talk and that eat the souls of trespassers. Think of the Hollow Forest as well, haunted with all sorts of creatures. The world of Anaboko is cursed eternally as night due to the souls of the tormented being transformed into hideous, man-eating creatures of the dark. There were also settlements here and there composed of Vasto Lorde, who tried to imitate the life of their former selves.

**NAKITAMA: FURTHER INFORMATION**

The "insiders" - those naturally born in Nakitama, for immigration is forbidden in this village (for a reason) - all worship one deity; that would be the ghostly Death God, "Shinigami", the god that Namikaze Minato and Sarutobi Hiruzen both summoned using the Shiki Fuujin (sp?). The land of Nakitama itself - and Anaboko as well - is truly sacred land, for it was legend that the god itself inhabits the land. This is true; Shinigami is the Spirit King in his entirety, who lives in an entirely different dimension as to keep his full power from destroying his followers. (since's there's a Spirit god in Naruto, why bother trying to translate the Spirit King from Bleach as a separate entity?)

The Country of Nakitama also has its name for a reason, as well as Tamagakure itself. Because of their advances in death energy, reiryoku, and the fact that their King is the God of Death, the fabric of reality was warped, making it so that those who died automatically "re-spawned" in one of the many different locations of Rukongai - this includes ninja, though they would not always appear in Tama as "shinigami" material, but as commoners (They may regain their shinobi powers after several hundreds of years). Reiryoku did strange things to the human body, and drastically altered their life-span, and destroyed all memories (except for those rare few that developed reiryoku before their deaths).

Essentially, no body really knows - or cares - who was a pure-born Tama citizen or who was immigrated by death; its all a large mix and life goes on as normal. People live, people laugh, and people die as they did before. (thus keeping the population balanced and keeping the country from overflowing. But there was also a special kido/jutsu (or combined) cast on Tama so that it would expand on the inside to accommodate the population (people say that its the work of their God).

No one that is inside the walls of Tama but outside the walls of Seireitei know what is outside; but at the same time, they don't care.

**A LITTLE SURPRISE**

Then, here's a little extra. Because of the fact that the Death God rules over Nakitama, there's a twist on the price of the Shiki Fuujin.

"Those who have their souls sealed with this technique can never go to heaven, instead they will suffer inside the Death God's stomach. The souls of the sealer and the sealed one will intertwine in hate and forever locked in combat."

The "Death God's stomach" in fact is Tamagakure - this is because essentially the soul of the Death God possesses the Spirit-enriched land of Nakitama, so it is basically his body. The soul of the sealer and the sealed one will be intertwined as Shinigami and Hollow – Both will be forced into these rolls, and literally will be forever locked in combat, seeing as they are enemies.

That means that Minato is alive in this story. However, his memories might be swiped (unless the readers say otherwise). And even further contradicting the "price" of the Shiki Fuujin, since Minato only sealed away a half of the Kyuubi's chakra this power becomes his zanpakuto, and so he is essentially similar to Naruto (with a bastard fox sealed within each, the only difference being that Minato's fox is a Zanpakuto whilst Naruto's is the fuckin' Kyuubi.)

However there is a plot twist in store for Sarutobi…but that cannot be revealed because it'd ruin upcoming chapters.

--

**....Gahhhhhhhhhhhhhh my brain has officially melted. How logical does the information seem? C:?**

**MORE INFORMATION MAY BE ADDED HERE LATER! This is the official "Bleached Narupedia" (the information encyclopedia for my alternate universe). DX**


	5. A Hollow Surprise And Demon Link Jutsu

**FIRST OFF! I have a poll running for whether to wipe Minato's memories so he has as many as a new-born baby, or whether to make him remember, or other options. GO!! GO AND DECIDE! I can't brink out the Yellow Flash until people have decided. ):**

**SECOND OFF!! I may lag in updates again because I am volunteering to be a colorist for Nekoni's comic "Naruto Tensei". If I get chosen to color expect a little lag.**

**THIRD! (1) - Look in the previous chapter under the section "Shikai/Bankai".**

**NOW, THE CHAPTER! **

**--**

"Sorry to keep you waiting." The proctor said. Ichigo snorted.

"It certainly was interesting enough to terrify the rest of the examinees while you were gone, though. Could've been more like Matsumoto-...sensei." The orange-haired male commented. The tester scowled.

"Shut up, carrot-headed brat!" Ichigo had to be physically detained by Hitsugaya not to go bankai(1) on the scarred man. Visibly tense and sending wave after wave of killing intent towards the man and the other chuunin in the room he stood down. The other genin in the room visibly paled as they felt a fraction of it, except for a select few.

"I am the examiner of the First Exam....Morino Ibiki." He then pointed towards the three disabled Sound Ninja and the three Tama ninja. "You three Oto-nin! You better not think you can do whatever the hell you want before the Exam. Do you want us to fail you already?" Dosu then turned fully, his face apathetic once again.

"Sumimasen...I was excited, since this _is_my first exam." He then cast his eyes over the other three who were staring even more so apathetically than Dosu towards his general direction. "And you three?"

"You don't know our village? How pathetic. It seems as though outsiders are misinformed of what you have deemed yourselves the Demon Village." Rukia's nose cringed in disgust at the foul term. Eyes widened in the chuunin section. Ibiki only smirked.

"Things will be interesting, then, Shinigami of the Soul Society." Now there were mixed responses from the three ninja: Hitsugaya's eyes widened, Rukia's mouth dropped open and Ichigo began to splutter hysterically as he pointed numbly at the Interrogation master; if one paid close enough attention they could make out that most of his garbled words were profanities that not even his team-mates thought his mind was capable of conjuring.

"Those terms are only known _strictly_ by insiders of Nakitama no Kuni...how did you find that out?" All the other ninja watched in fascination as they witnessed the interesting conversation between four mysterious and very powerful ninja.

"I have sources, and once I have visited Karakura myself." Now the killing intent tripled and not even Ibiki expected it to occur as he almost, _almost_, stumbled.

"We speak after the exams." Hitsugaya growled, his eyes flashing in a way that was only visible to Ibiki, who remained calm on this inside but panicked a little on the outside when a deafening roar echoed in his ear.

_Note to self...Speak with the Hokage about these three._ He said. Then he shook his head slightly to get back on the topic of the exam.

His eyes now quickly glared over the crowd and effectively shut up the majority of the examinees. The Rookie 9 warily glanced over at the fuming trio who were obviously unsettled by the strange phrase that they were regarded as. "…This is a good chance to say this…You are not allowed to fight each other during the exams unless given permission by the examiners. Even if you are given permission you cannot kill each other. Pigs who go against these rules will fail immediately. Understood?"

There was a terse silence before Zaku let out a loud snort and grinned, facing the head examiner.

"This exam seems so soft and easy."

There were chuckles within the group of chunin, as Ibiki began to speak once more, seeming to completely ignore his comment. "We will now begin the first exam of the Chunin Exams. Turn in your applications, take one of these number tags, and sit where the number tells you to. Then we will pass out the papers for the exam."

Sakura, who was helping Kabuto sit up – for he had fallen in shock – looked over to Naruto whose face was completely stone-like. He simply stared for a few seconds before speaking.

"Written…? Papers…?" Now Kabuto looked over as well to see the boy in a stupor of sorts. "Paper…?" A chunin now got a large stack of papers in hand. Naruto's eyes opened fully, completely wide as he slammed his hands down on the floor.

"A PAPER TEST?!"

Hitsugaya had listened, and then muttered next to his team-mates with his right hand in the "Tora" seal,

"Seiton: Heisetsu no yokai (Soul Release: Link of Demons)." The other two did the same one-handed seals before they were all linked via demon.

**Little one, I now have full contact with Sode no Shirayuki and Zangetsu...** The zanpakuto said.

"Good." He then focused on his team-mates and his mind. _Be wary. I sense something off in this room._

They looked around as they walked forward to turn in their applications like all the other ninjas in the clump that were moving forward to get their tests when Ichigo seemed to become alarmed. In shock the two ninja looked in that direction to come for an even greater shock.

Three ninja. But that wasn't what was off about them. Each had a fragment of a mask on their faces and had a hitai-ate with the symbol of a crescent moon. One had blue hair, blue eyes and a nice tan, the other had green eyes and black hair with deathly pale skin, and the third was darker with blond hair, blue eyes and_ very _revealing clothing. Rukia's breath hitched in her throat when the three looked in their direction. Grimmjow approached them before whispering,

"Nice job being subtle, shinigami scum." He grinned at them before he disappeared with the rest of his "team".

_Fuck. Aizen sent his own posers!_ Ichigo snarled mentally.

_Yeah._ Rukia replied.

_Be careful. We now have 3rd, 4th and 6th espadas in Konoha. Though they are legally obliged not to fight here I can't help but think that there is something wrong._

**There are two other demons in the premises as well that we are on friendly terms with. **Hyorinmaru said. **It's that Kyuubi character that the Hokage spoke of, and also the Ichibi in that insomniac kid.** **Should I attempt contact with Kyuubi? Certainly not with the other demon, he doesn't need any help, he can cheat with the sand and he doesn't need to know.**

_Well...The Hokage did ask me..._

--FLASHBACK--

"_Would you stay behind, Hitsugaya-san? I have a favor to ask of you." Hitsugaya, a questioning look on his face, nodded and remained behind._

"_Don't worry, I'll be able to sense you guys. I won't get lost." He called after them. Cries of "affirmative!" were shot back from the group as they followed the jonin to their home. Now, he glanced at Sarutobi._

"_If you ever get the possibility of assisting a boy by the name of Uzumaki Naruto in these exams, would you? In a way, you're like him. He is the container of the Kyuubi, after all. And in some ways, you have quirks in your personality from what I've heard from a friend of mine that are nearly identical to Naruto himself." Hitsugaya nodded._

"_Yes, I'll be sure to." He turned away. "After all, a person who had befriended Ukitake-san can't be all bad to help. And he__**did**__ ask me, troublesome as it is, to repay you a favor that he couldn't." Sarutobi's eyes widened._

"_Ukitake? You mean Ukitake Jyushiro?" Hitsugaya nodded._

"_If you didn't realize, yes, he is a Tama-nin too. He said that you were such a kind man."_

"_He was also very kind." And with that, Hitsugaya nodded and took his leave._

--

**Very well. **With that, Hyorinmaru's voice disappeared for a little while more. Hitsugaya noticed the blank look on Naruto's face for a few seconds.

In Naruto's perspective, he was drawn back into his mind for a few split seconds that seemed like an eternity to him.

"Eh? What do you want, you stupid fox?" The fox looked down at him from his cage and growled.

"There's another demon that wants to make contact with us." Naruto's eyebrow rose.

"Another demon?"

"It's a pseudo-bijuu - he has more tails then I do, though his master can't utilize them to their fullest power, making him just as strong as me than me, and he's a dragon." Naruto's brow furrowed, shocked.

"The rumor that Kabuto talked about is true?...but either way, let the dragon talk." With that, the dragon's head entered from a vortex hole.

"My master will assist you in the exams, Naruto. Don't question who he is, I have a feeling you know who he is, just accept the questions."

Naruto nodded quickly.

Back in the real world perspective, Naruto finally came back to reality as he looked over to Hitsugaya and smiled.

_Hey, thanks...erm...what should I call you? _Hitsugaya was shocked for a second before realizing that it was _Naruto_ who was talking to him telepathically using the connection he created.

_Hitsugaya. And you're welcome, just don't tell anyone this secret otherwise the laws of Seireitei will bring me to death until further notice. _Naruto nodded before they all took their seats. He didn't seem too worried, surprisingly to his team-mates.

_Alright then, Hitsugaya - I can keep that promise, I owe you a lot. Let's do good, ne? _Hitsugaya snorted.

_I don't need to be wished luck... but thanks, I suppose._ He said, shrugging mentally.

And with that, they began the test after Ibiki went over the rules. Rukia and Hitsugaya knew what they were doing, and finished first, relaying and comparing answers to create the best ones. Then, these answers were relayed to Naruto and Ichigo, Ichigo being too lazy to bother to think knowing that he had his team-mates and Naruto being clueless.

_Man..._ Naruto thought, grinning as he wrote. _I never thought having a demon would come in this handy..._

Within the time frame, there were many cheaters, and people cheating. However, Hitsugaya deliberately figured out the purpose of this seemingly pathetic test and managed to deflect more than a half a dozen cheaters from his paper, causing a few more to drop like flies.

Then, forty-five minutes was up. Ibiki spoke up again.

"Now, the tenth question...Yes, but before that, there's one thing I must say." He had a stoic glance as he stared at the examinees. "There will be one special rule for this last question." Kankuro entered, and Ibiki made a snide remark. Angered disbelief crossed his face as he sat down. "I will now explain...this is...a hopeless rule." Many of the students had fear on their face.

--

Meanwhile, Matsumoto was invited to lounge with Kakashi, Asuma and Kurenai. They all sat around, doing absolutely nothing. Matsumoto had purchased a bottle of sake and had her sake cup in hand, listening in to the conversation.

"Now that our subordinates are gone, it sure is boring." Kakashi mused.

"We'll get busy soon." Asuma commented dryly. In confusion, Kakashi rose his head.

"Why?" Asuma paused in answering as he shook the ash from the tip of his cigarette.

"This years first Examiner is _Morino Ibiki._"

A startled look before a troubled look entered his eye. Matsumoto seemed a little confused.

"They had to choose that sadist?" He commented dryly.

"Sadist?" Kurenai asked.

"You're still a rookie jonin, so its no wonder you don't know." A troubled look entered her face.

"So who is he?"

"A pro." Kakashi replied stoically.

"A pro! A pro of?" She asked. Matsumoto seemed curious.

"Torture and interrogation."

"What?" Kurenai asked, a look of minor disbelief on her face.

"Although there will be no physical torturing in the exam...I'm sure the students are feeling some mental stress through his interrogation skills... He is...Konoha ANBU's torture and interrogation squad leader...Morino Ibiki."

Matsumoto then started to laugh at the irony. They looked at her oddly.

"What's so funny?" She calmed her laughter.

"I'm sorry; I just found it ironic..." Matsumoto commented, hilarity written on her face as she took another sip from the cup.

"Ironic?" They all asked. She grinned.

"One of the genin in my squad, Toshiro, is the leader of the Intelligence unit, and thus Torture and Interrogation being a sub-unit, in our village. He has successfully completed every single related task to that subject. The enemies we bring to him are cowering in fear and their appetites are disrupted for a week when he's done. Some have committed suicide after facing him. Your Ibiki-san will not affect my team in the slightest."

"Impossible!!!" Kakashi coughed, choking on his own breath due to shock.

She only smiled. "They don't call him our best child-prodigy for nothing."

"How good is this kid?" Kakashi asked, turning to Matsumoto.

"A few of our prisoners died from heart-attacks after facing him. It was surprising, really. But it's why he's best suited for the job. He has been the most proficient captain in centuries, and he still has a long time to get even better at it, too. The thing is, his eyes are the most intimidating of his entire stature. He can literally see into the depths of ones soul, and seeing as this is what enemies are afraid of..."

She had a banana in her hand now, seeing as she was going to eat it, but she squished it, and it internally turned to mush. "This is what happens to all of their resolve and ability to fight his tactics. If anything, Ibiki would have to work hard at his current level in order to give Hitsugaya a run for his money."

"Is there anything else we should know about your team?" Her eyes seemed to darken a little bit as she stared at the wall.

"I can't tell you anything else without dying, if you can't remember that." They all gave an audible "oh" as they continued to listen. "However, I would warn you to be cautious. Do not follow or trace any of us. If you do you run the risks of being pulled into a war of the likes of which you have never seen in your life. If the Reikage approves of the alliance we will assist you in your times of war, but we will refuse any offers of assistance if only to spare your lives." They gave her looks of disbelief.

"What do you mean?"

She smiled at them grimly. "The last time a ninja village tried to interfere it was annihilated. We are far more powerful than the average ninja of the Five Great Shinobi villages."


	6. And He Raised His Hand

**Okay…Um, sorry for the really late update… I got lost on the road of life and high school… for three months…**

…

**Yeah, that's it. =___=;;**

**BUT PUTTING THAT ASIDE! First, I have closed the poll. There is enough of a difference between the winning and the loosing options that I am able to insert our beloved Blondaime (points to the person that knows where that comes from). THE WINNING OPTION: ****No, first, but then make him remember after an extended period of time. So there you have it folks, Minato will be as clueless as a newborn baby about anything outside Soul Society. However, after a long period of time (presumably mid-Shippuuden) he shall remember, and BAM! Blondaime returns. He'll remember something in this chapter, too. But its minor. No worries. Yeah. I AM DEFINITELY NOT RUSHING. COUGHCOUGH.**

**And now, to throw another poll out there: One reader asked if I could insert the pairing HitsuHina. I decide to ask you… But seeing as they have not replied and I really need to update this fic, I don't know whether they meant Hinamori or Hinata (I've seen both done and cross-overs are evil like this). So. I will have the poll momentarily and you will be able to vote to your hearts content.**

**NOW. READY? SET? GO!**

--

The captains that remained in Soul Society were amassed for news of potentials to fill in the two remaining captain positions that were empty with the betrayal of Aizen, Gin, and Tosen.

"So soon, sotaichou? And without two of our captains, to top it off…" Mayuri Kurotsuchi, who wore his normal haori and his normal garments over a simple kimono-reminiscent robe, queried.

"Kurosaki-taichou and Hitsugaya-taichou already approve of these candidates. In fact, they are two of the six who vouched for one of them."

This caused several captains to murmur under their breaths; Hitsugaya, nominating someone for a captain's position? He was a Tamagakure-born child prodigy, to their standards, and thus he would have an eye for talent and ability.

"For the Ninth Division, Shihoin Minato. According to his resume, Minato died thirteen years ago. In that time, he discovered his shikai and bankai. He is prodigal in seals, distinguished in kido, and he is very able in kenjutsu. He has a quick mind and was able to create ingenious plans during the field practice in the advanced class."

"Shihoin Minato, you may enter." Then a blond man entered, standing, with cerulean blue eyes, messy hair with long bangs whose tone reflected the sun itself, tanned skin, wearing his simple shihakusho. He looked a little sheepish but mostly serious. He swiftly bowed to his current superiors, before standing.

"To what do I give the honor to being summoned before the captains of Soul Society?" Minato asked, curiously. The captains critically analyzed him, before Yamamoto spoke.

"Shihoin Minato, if you would demonstrate your zanpakuto's shikai?" He looked momentarily confused, and taken aback.

"Er…Sure." He shrugged loosely before drawing his zanpakuto in a swift movement.

"Ravage, Raimei no Byakko!" The blade snapped and shifted into a three pronged kunai. However, it did not end there as then white lightning jutted from the highest blade, revealing the kunai to actually be the hilt and the guard of his zanpakuto. The blade was of living lightning, and upon its activation it made the sound of thunder.

"…It is acceptable." Byakuya, the other noble and captain of the Sixth Division, commented.

"He has ability." Komamura, the Seventh Division captain, added thoughtfully.

"He seems like a tough kid. I wanna fight him!" Eleventh Division Captain, Zaraki Kenpachi's way of vouching.

"Hitsugaya-taichou, Kurosaki-taichou, Unohara-taichou, Ukitake-taichou, Kyoraku-taichou, and Soifon-taichou have given personal recommendations. Komamura-taichou, Kuchiki-taichou, and Zaraki-taichou have all approved. "From this day, Shihoin Minato is Captain of the Ninth Division." The shocked shinigami-turned captain was presented with a new haori, of the ninth division. "You may have your second outfit's haori fashioned in any way you wish. For now, you may be dismissed."

"A-Arigatou." He bowed lowly before disappearing with a shunpo.

As he left, Soifon finally spoke again.

"He reminds me of Konoha's late Yellow Flash."

--

The group of jounin that sat around in the lounge simply made small talk and would occasionally start bragging about their genin teams while they waited for the end of the first parts of the Chunin Exams. Matsumoto was actually enjoying herself even if she was the only one that was drinking. However, her blood ran cold as a person with a far too familiar aura entered the room.

"Ne, Ran-chan, lon' time no see, eh?" She almost dropped her sake cup. Though, her love for the alcoholic drink was far too strong and overrode her limb's command to fall limp as she turned with wide eyes.

"...Gin." Her eyes narrowed as she spat the name, her aura growing murderous. There was Ichimaru Gin, a man with silver hair with a hint of lavender and a fox-like face, donning his ever-present fake grin. The other three jounin raised an eyebrow seeing the hate in her posture towards the man that now entered.

"Ah ah ah, ya can' attack me wit'in the borders of anotha' village unless ya want otha's to ge' hurt." She only glared further at him as she clenched her hand. "I sugges' ya be careful wit' tha' sake cup. Woul' be such a waste if i' go' busted."

"What are _you_ doing here?" The others in the room felt like backing away slowly.

"Well, I'm jus' here wit' my genin team." He said, the grin never phasing. Her eyes widened a little as his grin grew into something more malicious. "Yup, tha's tha game, Ran-chan. Well, I'll be seein' ya aroun', I'm gonna go to tha' ramen shop I saw earlier. Jus' wanted ta stop by an' say hi." With that, he shunpo'ed away, startling all but Matsumoto. After a tense silence Asuma spoke up.

"Who was that guy?" This was the question on the three Konoha jonin's minds.

"Ichimaru Gin." She spat, still riled up from the encounter. "He was a former ninja of Tama, part of the thirteen head ninja...now he is part of the enemy village, Kuragari."

"Kuragari?" They asked. She regretfully pointed towards her chest again where the seal flashed for them to see.

"I can't say any more. Sorry." They nodded in acceptance of her excuse and went to settling the atmosphere again. Then Kakashi told one particular joke that sent them all into hysterics.

"Yo, Asuma, in a desert do you aim for the perverted sannin, the modest sannin, or the oasis?"

Shrugs.

"The perverted sannin; the other two are just a figment of your imagination."

Whether it was the pure lameness of the joke, or the fact that it was true, they didn't know, but they had a hard time catching their breaths.

Or maybe it was the fact that Jiraiya walking by and happened to hear this joke. The interesting reaction from them - Jiraiya first looked insulted, and then started staring at the shinigami's bust only proving the truth in the joke; that definitely made the hellcat wielder break into a fit of laughter...after she punched Jiraiya in the face.

--

"Oi…" A man, with blond hair, blue eyes, and fair skin looked up, blinking. At the current time he had merely been sitting on the roof of his old division, the tenth division. His long bangs fell over his face, even passing the hitai-ate he wore, with the symbol of the village of Tama. He had a white coat with short sleeves and black flames decorating the bottom, and the Ninth Division logo on the back. He also had on a black long-sleeved shirt with a metal bond close to his elbow and on his wrist on both arms. His pants were the standard shinobi styled pants, and going to his black ninja sandals from the edge of the slacks were wraps. The front of the coat was held stable by a medium width red string that had clamps on each side of it; the clamps held down on the fabric and thus had kept it from flying open. Underneath the coat he also had a black version of a jonin vest.

"Yes?" His gaze rested on a male with a tattoo of the number 69 on his cheek, a white bandage reaching over from the left side of his face to a point only short a few centimeters of the half-way mark of his right cheek. He wore a sleeveless muscle shirt with a white fabric wrapped on each of his shoulders, and had standard shinobi pants reaching to mid-shin. and his lieutenants badge on his left bicep. He also wore a choker of sorts, and had a band of similar design on his right bicep.

"You're the new 9th Division captain, right?" He nodded and then the other bowed.

"I'm Shuuhei Hisagi, your lieutenant. And you are?"

"My name is Minato. Shihoin Minato." He replied.

"Shihoin?" He asked, blinking.

"I was…adopted, so to speak, by the Shihoin household." He replied. Then, he stood and smiled.

"I'm glad Hitsugaya-taichou believed enough in my abilities to recommend me for captain rank." He nodded. "After you, Hisagi-san?"

"Ah, Shihoin-taichou." He bowed and then shunpo'ed away, following him. They crossed the large avenue that passed through the divisions, that were filled with many shinigami meeting with friends in other divisions or running errands for their superiors, to come to the division adjacent to the 10th Division; the 9th Division.

"We're here." Hisagi said. Minato nodded, and then Hisagi took it upon himself to introduce Minato to his new living quarters – which made his eyes pop out of his skull at the size of it, for he was used to living in the one room apartment that the seated officers received, being the 10th Divisions former 3rd Seat. Then, to the office.

"…And here is our office, taichou. My desk is opposite of yours, yours is under the window." Hisagi explained, and Minato's gaze wandered, taking in the large shelves of tomes, scrolls, files, and books that covered the walls in the entire room. Then, there was a secluded area that held a couch, another couch opposite of it and a small table in the center of the two sofas. He then came across the piles of paperwork that sat upon their desks. And with that, a strange thing happened.

He phased out, and vaguely saw a scene with a blond-haired man sitting at a desk in a snug office, that had a couch in front of it; the entire room was littered in seals, scrolls, and weapons. The man in question, though very hazy, was grumbling.

"_What's wrong…?"_ He heard the distorted voice of an old man, as said old man entered the room. He wore a simple robe, and had gray hair. He also had many, many wrinkles. He couldn't help but shake the feeling that something was blurred out, as if he wasn't supposed to know.

"_Jeez…"_ He recognized the voice as his own, vaguely. _"You never told me… the gigantic work load that came with being…"_

"Ano…Shihoin-taichou?" He blinked as he realized he was back in his office.

"A-ah, sorry Hisagi-san…I must have spaced from seeing the massive amount of paperwork." He snorted slightly.

"I suppose so." He shrugged. "You can rest today, but tomorrow you should start doing the paperwork."

"Thank you, Hisagi-san." He nodded politely to the other man, all while thinking, _What the hell is going on…?_

--

Naruto gulped, feeling unsure. _A hopeless rule...?_

_Don't feel intimidated._Hitsugaya told him. _He's specialized in a subsection of my own position, torture and interrogation. If you feel intimidated you're walking right into his trap._

"First, you are all going to choose if you wish to take this tenth problem or not." There were gasps of absurdity in the crowd.

"And, Mr. Ibiki, if we don't take this question?" Ichigo asked coolly, no hint of fear or discomfort in his voice or appearance.

"If you choose not to, then your points will decrease to zero. In other words, you will fail. And your team-mates will fail too."

"Whats the meaning of that?! Of course we're going to choose to take it! Teammates also failing is bull!" One student cried out. He grinned.

"And here is the other rule... If you choose to take it and get it wrong..." His face hardened. "You will loose the privilege to take the Chunin Exams forever."

Hitsugaya felt Naruto stiffen on the other side of the bond. _Don't worry, Naruto._

"What kind of dumb rule is that?!" Kiba snarled out, pointing at Ibiki in rage. "There should be those here who have taken the Chunin Exams in the past!" Ibiki began to laugh slowly.

"You were unlucky...this year, _I_ am the rule." He smirked. "That is why I gave you the option of quitting. Those who are not confident can choose not to take it, and take the exam next year, or the year after that."

He then chuckled again. "Let us begin. Those who will not be taking these tenth questions, raise your hands. After we confirm your numbers, we will have you leave."

There was a tense atmosphere. One man sitting next to Naruto finally stood and raised his hand. "...I...I...I quit! I won't take it!" He was then led out of the room, taking his teammates with him. A hopelessness filled the room at the first departure.

After his incident, more people raised their hands, and more left. Finally, Naruto was internally panicking, and wondering what he should chose.

And then, to the shock of the Tama-team, his own team, and the other rookie teams from Konoha, Uzumaki Naruto raised his hand.

--

**CLIFFY. I'm so sorry. You can kill me now. D:**

**I hope, I HOPE I will be able to get myself to update sooner. But I have to revise the current clumps that I have written out, because they're rushed and messy. **


	7. Tragedys Storytale

**...You guys can kill me now. I just managed to work up something to spur my muse so I could continue writing. Painfully short and after a horrendously long hiatus, I am so sorry. I had momentarily lost my spark when it comes to the anime Naruto... e .e;**

**Need to go through and edit the page cuts again, stupid FF...x . x  
**

**..intermission...**

It seemed surreal, in slow motion, almost: That Konoha's Number 1 Knuckle-headed Ninja rose his hand, the dawning of his internal defeat almost mocking all they stood for. Yet, it seems they had jumped to conclusions too soon, for as soon as he rose said hand, Naruto slammed it onto the table, a determination etched in deep stone on his face.

"Screw you! I'm not going to run away!" He said triumphantly, shifting to a stern, motivated stance. "I'll take this problem! Even if I become a genin forever, I'm gonna become a Hokage no matter what anyway!" He stood up now. "I'm not scared!" Hitsugaya snorted, and remember when he used to act like that.

**Ninety years ago, little one. **Hyorinmaru said. **I miss that you in a way. You were always so adorable when you were defiant. And spitting those watermelon seeds at Hinamori...**

_Hyorinmaru! _He snapped; he did not want to be reminded of a time where he had behaved so immature, lest his team-mates own zanpakuto heard and told their wielders, for he would NEVER hear the end of it. _Shut up!_

Ibiki's cold, slate eyes cast over the group and watched as shivers went up several an unfortunate genin's back. "I will ask one more time. This is the choice that will impact your life." Enter, dramatic pause; he then took a breath, and spoke again. "If you want to quit, now is the chance."

Naruto went unphased, merely radiating pure defiance yet a cool relaxation that showed that he was no longer affected by the hopelessness that was being imprinted into their very souls by the Interrogation expert. "I'm not going to take back my words. That's my "Way of the Ninja"." Ichigo smirked lazily at the gutso the boy was showing.

_Thats the kind of stuff that people need to show in the real world... _Ichigo thought smugly, mentally patting Naruto on the back.

_You're praising me? Cool! _Naruto grinned internally.

_Yup...you remind me of myself. _Now Hitsugaya interrupted him.

_Yes, you're both identical...now if only I could tame the older of you two. _Ichigo grew an agitated visage, turning to the side and giving evil eyes to Hitsugaya, who only stared back passively, unamused by the shinigami's antics.

Many ninja in the room were smiling, their confidence re-established. No longer did they feel the fear they had felt before.

_Thats exactly how you do it, kid. _Rukia thought, giving the blond praise.

_Hey, thanks. _Naruto replied back. _I think I may get to like you guys._

"Nice determination." Ibiki spoke, his voice washing over them; they readied themselves for the final, most difficult question of the test, half of them wondering what the hell they had gotten themselves into. "Then...for the first Exam, everyone here...passes!"

"Wait, what's up with that? We pass already? What about the tenth question?" Sakura had shot up from her chair and was staring incredulously at their examiner. Several genin paused to give her looks, silently cursing her for saying anything and hoping he wouldn't change his mind about their fortunate circumstances.

"There was never such a question to begin with." Ibiki replied calmly.

"Or, you can call the two-choice question the tenth question." Sakura could feel the raven haired Kuchiki's eyes almost glow as they watched her, her face steadfast as she spoke.

"So, what were the last nine questions! They were all a waste!" Temari stood from her chair, angered.

"Not really." Ichigo commented dryly, sitting up slightly. "From a professional view, the entire point of this exam was to test your information gathering skills, and to weed out all of those who were incapable of acquiring the required information without arousing suspicion."

Hitsugaya then picked up where the strawberry left off. "This is part of the basic fundamentals that a ninja is required to have; should you not possess this skill...you're as worthless as trash to your cause."

_How Ulquiorra-like of you. _Ichigo mumbled, causing Hitsugaya to give him evil eyes.

_Shut up. _He snapped back.

_Ulquiorra? _Naruto asked. They remembered that Naruto could still hear.

_Someone you don't know, and shouldn't need to know._

**...intermission...**

_"Ne ne..." He looked over to see a girl, about his height - which was impeccably short - with the most gorgeous eyes he'd ever seen, and hair that reminded him of blood...yet, the surrealism surrounding the vision seemed to also impair his ability to register things in his mind, so even though his heart knew what he was seeing, nor his eyes nor his mind did. "We'll be together forever, right, Minato-kun...?"_

_"Sheesh...Ku...na, I just became...I still love..." She giggled and hugged his arm and warmth radiated in his heart._

_"I love you, Minato-kun..."_

_"And I you, my beloved..."_

_He hated how parts of speech were blurred out and her lips seemed to move closer to his, and he found himself leaning forward and-_

"Shihouin-taichou?" Minato's eyes shot open as he sat up, a smudge of ink on several parts of his face that resembled kanji; he, however, did not notice. Thus, confusion entered his eyes as he saw the passive visage his vice-captain typically held faltered slightly, unbridled amusement dancing among those inky depths and his mouth curling ever so slightly into a smile.

"Did I fall asleep? What's wrong?" He seemed confused.

"Taichou, you should go wash your face off..." Hearing the implication, he put a hand on his cheek. Removing it, he then saw the kanji of part of his name rub off on his hand. Looking down, he saw a slightly smudged document, with still fresh ink on it.

"Damn it..." He stood, infuriated and humiliated, but before his departure he looked back at Hisagi. "You still didn't answer my questions."

"I'll answer them when you return...after getting some sleep, taichou, you look tired." Minato shrugged; truthfully, he was, for he had been - prior to his advancement in rank - been on a full night watch duty.

"I'll hold you up to your word, Hisagi-fukutaichou. And thank you."

Hisagi nodded firmly and then the form of his captain disappeared.

**...intermission...**

"Ne, ne...Did you hear?" A dark-skinned man said lazily, his beady eyes looking down at the much smaller, much more feminine character next to him. Both were walking among the main fortress of the village Kuragari No Sato. The sky, as black as always, mocked any other forms of life other than hollows with its misery, and the crescent moon almost grinned at them, crookedly. "Someone's gonna try and replace you, Szayel."

The pink haired man looked upwards to him, and frowned. "Who would dare? In fact, who would have the gall enough to try?"

"I would," A voice said. It was distinctly feminine, but sounded harsh, and cold. They looked over to see a woman with long, blazing red hair and cold green eyes. Her hollow hole was in the center of her collar bone and she wore a jacket that clung to her figure, as her hakama lightly dusted along the floor.

"Who are you?"

"I am the Bloody Red Habanero...and I have found it time that you learned your true place."

Szayel's eyes narrowed as he regarded the woman whose reiatsu began to rise...and slowly felt the foreign coil of fear roll inside his stomach. Something was strange about this one...perhaps if -no, not if, when he defeated her, she would prove an interesting new subject to study.

"I am...Kushina."

**...intermission...**

_Face the truth, as a family is torn apart by destiny. One, with no heart, and one with no life belonging of his own, and the third a tragic hero. Two dead, and one alive, the pages of Tragedy's storytale move onward..._

_Let the cogs of Fate move._

**...intermission...**


End file.
